Beyond National Boundaries: A Season of New Acquisitions, Part I
I hope that you will find among the list below some items that will pique your curiosity and give you the desire to come and consult them at Folger. Just a reminder that this is just a selection of recent acquisitions acquired since March 2023, mostly pre-19th century. Some of them were purchased in collaboration with Heather Wolfe, Curator of Manuscripts, as they are interesting both for their print and manuscript content. Stay tuned for a post on recent manuscript acquisitions!
Health, food, and gardening:
- A treatise on figs and cantaloupe (1607), Folger 272873
- A pamphlet on London recusant soap makers, criticizing the quality of their soap, although more research is needed to determine whether the criticism was for religious or for soapy reasons (1646), Folger 272845
- A treatise on tulips and how to take care of them (1654), Folger 272948
- A book on makeup and other “artificial embellishments” (1665), Folger 272954
- A treatise on the importance of cleaning homes in times of pestilence (1668), Folger 273037
- Another on the health benefits and dangers of milk (1684), Folger 272918
Early English books, broadsheets, prints on poverty, politics and political satire
- Two almanacs, one printed in Magdeburg, Germany, around 1588, Folger 273032, the other by the English almanac author John Goldsmith for the year 1668 which our collection was missing, Folger 272902
- An unrecorded and unique STC in its original condition, stab-stitched without a cover, about the extremely cold London winter of 1623/24 which was especially dangerous for the poorest among the population of the city (1624), Folger 272788 STC
- A book on waterwork engineering by the Huguenot architect Isaac de Caus. This copy was never properly bound and remains in what must have been its original state at first sale: stab-stitched with a paper board cover (1644), Folger 272913
- A satirical print by Martin Droeshout, the engraver of Shakespeare’s portrait in the First Folio (this state 1672), Folger 272977
- A royal proclamation regulating parish provisions for the poor. Those who did not belong to the parish were to be treated as vagabonds and subject to a much less caring treatment (1692), Folger FAST ACC 272798
- A book on English grammar (1699), Folger 272906
Women authors, readers, printers, texts about women
- A religious conduct book for women (1550), Folger 272843
- An unrecorded little devotional book printed by the German printer Katharina Dieterich in a devotional binding (1601), Folger 273111
- A treatise by a puritan clergyman owned and signed by Catherine Tollemache of Helmigham Hall in Suffolk, with one of her recipes inscribed on the front pastedown of the book (1615), Folger 272960. Catherine Tollemache is known for a manuscript book of secrets including many recipes. The Folger Library owns another book signed by her (1600), and a copy of Gerard’s herbal from the Tollemache library.
- A sammelband with two texts, one praising women, the other criticizing them, (1638 and 1643), Folger 272781. It is not unusual to find texts presenting opposite opinions on the same subject bound together. Such sammelbands illustrate their owners’ desire to know all parts of a debate.
- The complete works of Antoinette Bourignon who was a correspondent of Anna Maria Schurman mentioned in part I of this post (1669), Folger 272792
Theater, festivals, and ephemera
- Two early sixteenth-century textbook editions of the comedies by the African Roman playwright Terence whose plays were studied in schools in England and on the continent. Both copies were printed on the continent, they are copiously annotated including by students, respectively in Latin and in English (1503 and 1520). The copy of the 1503 edition includes some coloring made by an amateur artist, perhaps a student. Folger 273036 and 273023
- A Spanish play by the famous playwright Lope de Vega printed in Spanish in Milan (1619), Folger 272849. To my knowledge, plays were rarely printed in their original language in a different country. Milan as the place of printing is also intriguing. Naples, then under Spanish rule, would have been more understandable.
- Although masques were popular courtly entertainments in 16th to mid-17th century England, evidence of their setting is scarce. This collection of airs was created to accompany masqued dances for brass instruments (1621), Folger 272964
- A Spanish festival book about the entrance of the Queen consort of Spain, Mariana of Austria, into Madrid, with descriptions of the scenery including depictions of the Americas (1650), Folger 272928
- A very different type of entrance into a city in a satirical pamphlet on Mardi Gras printed in Paris (1650), Folger 272931
- Two theater tickets for the seating and standing areas in a French theater for an unknown performance most likely taking place in 1657 [PIC 6 and 6a]. Although produced in large quantity, few theater tickets of this period have survived, Folger 272872
- Long before e-cards, invitations could be printed on small pieces of paper like this one (1667), Folger 272878. It is an invitation to the forthcoming lecture of a young scholar, Lelio Trionfetti, in a Bolognese public school. Trionfetti went on to give many other lectures on various natural history subjects, most likely advertised with similar printed invitations no longer extant.
- A poem written by a prominent Quaker critical of theaters in 18th century Bristol (1766), Folger 272785
- An intriguing proof of a playbill from 1816 for a comic opera version of Romeo and Juliet performed in Calais, France, followed by an acrobatic show performed by monkeys. One wonders what remained of Shakespeare’s original text… Folger 273040
- Three playbills for performances at the Royal Theatre in Hull, England, from 1817 and 1818, including one for a performance of As You Like It and another with the actor Junius Brutus Booth (the father of both Edwin, Shakespearian actor of fame, and John Wilkes, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln): Folger 273011, 273008, and 273001
- A group of pamphlets on cosmetics for the stage by the Hollywood cosmetics firm Max Factor including numerous examples of makeup for Shakespearean characters, some of which stressed the racial and social stereotypes of the period (1958), Folger 272975
Books inspired by Shakespeare
Writing and shorthand manuals, letter writing, etc.
- A portable album amicorum or blank book with decorated borders in which acquaintances, friends, or colleagues of the book owner could sign their names, draw their coats of arms, or enter a few words of friendship or praise, bound with a book for children on famous men and women from Antiquity to the 1550s when this book was printed, Folger 272740
- A Spanish writing manual (1580), Folger 273064, and another one addressed to women on the art of letter writing (1549), Folger 272903
- Two books dealing with shorthand systems document the increasing interest of various publics in the 17th century for these new writing techniques. One of these books was printed in French but translated from a German manual itself largely derived from an English text by Thomas Shelton, Folger 272756 (on Shelton see Heather’s post on his shorthand version of the Lord’s Prayer). The other one was written by the teacher of stenography, William Mason, who invented a shorthand system including over 400 characters, to write words phonetically (1687), Folger 272889. Neither system found much practical use although Mason’s method was later adapted and used to take notes in criminal courts.
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